tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9020609400967229954.post4579912113512512036..comments2024-03-27T06:34:24.901-07:00Comments on Goethe Etc.: Goethe, Marx, UtopiaGoethe Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11390542069637659154noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9020609400967229954.post-68514249505768623022013-07-08T03:56:05.147-07:002013-07-08T03:56:05.147-07:00Also, I have to say, your blog has been a staple o...Also, I have to say, your blog has been a staple of my google search results for years. It seems to represent more or less the entirety of Goethe's presence in the world of social media and web 2.0 so I'm glad your back. I found myself here yet again tonight after a google search for The Collector and his Circle and it's always nice to see your site come up if for no other reason it reminds me I'm not the only one who has Goethe on the brain 24/7.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9020609400967229954.post-89984195581930193222013-07-08T03:45:53.208-07:002013-07-08T03:45:53.208-07:00I think Goethe would agree that the objective and ...I think Goethe would agree that the objective and subjective do in fact interact directly and mutually determine one another. However, for Goethe and Schiller both, strict arbitration of the antagonism that exists between the faculties was required, not only to bridge the chasm between them, but just as importantly, to preserve the inalienable sovereignty with which they ruled in their respective spheres.<br /><br />It is only in Aesthetic culture and works of fine art that the physical and rational dimensions ever intersect one another, and only there.<br /><br />Marxist readings of the Society of the Tower in Meister have consistently revealed the impoverishment of that approach in their failure, time and time again, to make meaningful sense out of the novel's final volume. What is the extent of Goethe's utopianism? Aesthetic culture.<br /><br />I don't think there's any question that the Uncle's estate is meant to represent what Schiller calls the Aesthetic State, which is completely distinct from both the Physical State and The Rational and Moral State, which never, in any other place besides the Aesthetic State, ever, interact with one another. And while throughout the 8th book Wilhelm is desperate to leave and to "loose himself again in the wide world", the book only finally comes to its conclusion when the limits of his activity are fully recognized and he reveals himself to Lothario.<br /><br />The Society of The Tower is not a utopian in its conception, and doesn't exist in any knowable, directly causal relationship to objective, empirical experience. Outside of the Aesthetic State, it simply does not exist, but is a purely regulative idea. The "Fate/Chance Question" posed throughout the novel is given an explicit answer I think.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com